I am using powered Atlas turnouts which come with about 12 inches of three connector wire hardwired in. Obviously that is rarely long enough. Is there a source of three connector wire that can be purchased in larger quantities that doesn’t cost a huge amount? I have seen 2 and 4 connector, although it is pretty expense. I am trying to use telephone wire with four connectors, ignoring one, but that isn’t really great either.
I use 4-conductor phone wire for my turnouts. I get it from Home Depot, about 9 dollars for a hundred feet. That’s cheaper than any 3-conductor cable I’ve found on-line. This wire works great for me.
What I did on a layout of old was to run a single strand wire (+) around the layout, visiting each turnout as I went. This wire was hooked to the center tap of the turnout coil. I then ran a two conductor wire from each machine back to the control panel, ran each of the two strands through a SPST pushbutton and then both strands to -
Dunno if this would help any on your layout but it sure simplified wiring on mine.
I am curious as to why not? I’ve been using “Bell” wire for turnouts for years (since 1969 or so). Also as one of the prior posters already noted, only two wires are required from the electrical switch to the turnout motor. The center lead on all the turnout motors can be wired on a bus directly to the “common” of the power supply.